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Software Engineering

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  • Fun fact: there is a standardised posiz binary format, which can be run across OSes. It's just not commonly used. Commented Jul 9, 2014 at 16:08
  • @Marcin: Seems like you don't consider Windows to be an OS. (Or are you saying Windows can run POSIX binaries?!) For the purposes of my answer POSIX isn't the kind of standard I'm referring to. The X in POSIX stands for Unix. It was never intended to be used by e.g. Windows, even though Windows does happen to have a POSIX subsystem. Commented Jul 9, 2014 at 19:49
  • 1. Something can run across multiple OSes without running across all OSes; 2. Windows since NT has been able to run posix binaries. Commented Jul 9, 2014 at 19:56
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    @Marcin: (1) Like I said, the X in POSIX stands for UNIX. It is not a standard that was meant to be followed by other OSes, it was just an attempt to reach a common denominator between the various Unixes, which is great but not that amazing. The fact that there are multiple flavors of Unix OSes out there is completely irrelevant to the point I've been trying to make regarding compatibility across other operating systems than Unix. (2) Can you provide a reference for #2? Commented Jul 9, 2014 at 20:03
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    @Mehrdad: Marcin is right; Windows SUA (Subsystem for Unix Applications) is POSIX compliant Commented Jul 10, 2014 at 11:12